Posts by Zachary Groff

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The Essential Law of the Vineyard

Zachary Groff
Aug 19, 2024
The metaphor of God’s kingdom as a vineyard is one that has Old Testament vintage, which is appropriate when talking about a vineyard. Long before Christ’s first advent, the prophet Isaiah described the Kingdom of Judah as a vineyard well-supplied to do what it is supposed to do: produce grapes for...

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article XV

Zachary Groff
Jul 11, 2024
In formal logic, the logical biconditional is the relation that exists between two statements when they imply – or necessitate – each other. It is usually expressed with the phrase “if and only if.” For example, the statement “I am breathing if and only if I am alive” necessarily entails the...

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article XIII

Zachary Groff
Jul 3, 2024
After introducing the theological concept of “inerrancy” in Article XII, the drafters of The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy proceeded to defend the use of this comparatively new term in reference to the veracity of Scripture. Article XIII declares: We affirm the propriety of using...

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article XII

Zachary Groff
Jun 24, 2024
Having established that Scripture is inspired by God (Articles VI through X) and infallible in nature (Article XI), the Chicago Statement proceeds to defend the Inerrancy of Scripture in all that follows. We have come to the heart of the matter. Article XII begins: We affirm that Scripture in its...

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article XI

Zachary Groff
Jun 21, 2024
The terms Inspiration , Infallibility , and Inerrancy rise or fall together in our doctrine of Scripture. They are really in it together, we might say. Thus, it is no surprise that Articles VI through X of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy are so focused on explaining the doctrine of...

The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article IV

Zachary Groff
May 10, 2024
Having laid a foundation for the nature and authority of the Holy Scriptures as the Word of God in the three opening articles, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy proceeds to define and defend mankind’s capacity to receive God’s Word. The framers of the Statement make the following...

The Order of Salvation: Regeneration

Zachary Groff
Feb 6, 2024
Do you remember the moment when the Spirit of God effected your regeneration? Can you pinpoint the instant in which you were “born again” (1 Ptr. 1:3, 23)? You have probably heard testimonies describing a sudden rush of spiritual realization and conviction of sin, a settled persuasion of the truth...

The Order of Salvation: Predestination and Election

Zachary Groff
Jan 18, 2024
In our theological lexicon, two words in particular stand out as notoriously confusing, potentially offensive, critically important, and profoundly comforting all at the same time. The terms ‘election’ and ‘predestination’ – which have nothing to do with political decision-making and very little to...

Majoring in the Minors: Nahum

Zachary Groff
Nov 29, 2023
At our once-rural (now-suburban) church, we have two weekly prayer meetings. On Wednesday nights, we gather to pray for an hour, structuring our time around praise, confession of sin, and supplication. On Lord’s Day afternoons, we gather for just twenty minutes to pray for the extension of Christ’s...

Majoring in the Minors: Micah

Zachary Groff
Nov 20, 2023
As we survey the twelve so-called Minor Prophets, Micah seems to be the prophet most obviously oriented on Christ the coming Messiah. More clearly and directly than the other eleven books that make up this canonical collection, the book of Micah predicts the advent of Christ Jesus. But thou,...

Majoring in the Minors: Joel

Zachary Groff
Oct 26, 2023
In reading the Minor Prophets, you might at first be overwhelmed by the sheer proportion of material concerning judgment: judgment against Israel, judgment upon neighboring nations, and judgment condemning the unrighteous. How should conscientious readers navigate the many passages of doom and...

The Spirit's Fruit: Goodness

Zachary Groff
Oct 4, 2023
Just as the root of Christian living is the work of God’s Spirit in our hearts, goodness is the chief attribute of the Spirit’s blessing in our relationships. Along with patience and kindness, goodness is a social grace, a virtue realized only in societies (however great or small). True goodness is...

The Promise: The Lord Will Keep You from Harm

Zachary Groff
Mar 7, 2023
The United States Secret Service is the federal law enforcement agency primarily responsible for protecting high-profile government figures and for conducting investigations into criminal activity targeting the country’s financial infrastructure. In the 2021 fiscal year, the Service spent around $2...

Promises: God Hears Your Prayers

Zachary Groff
Jan 12, 2023
A few years back, there was a clever trend afoot that brought light amusement to some and great annoyance to others. Friends and family members would record a voicemail greeting that began with a cheery “hello,” only to pause for a few seconds before launching into the rest of the greeting, “I can’...

Psalm 130: Redeemed from the Depths

Zachary Groff
Dec 7, 2022
You would not know it from a vantage point on one of the many docks dotting the shoreline of Lake Murray, but this manmade reservoir is uniquely massive. The so-called “Jewel of South Carolina” has a surface area of 50,000 acres, over 650 miles of shoreline, and retains about 763 billion gallons of...

Irresistible Grace & Shepherding

Zachary Groff
Oct 5, 2022
Front office and back office, cast and crew, sales and operations, business development and customer care: what do each of these pairs have in common? Typically, members of the first group in each couplet will have very little - if anything - to do with working in the second group. Such separation...

The Troubler of Israel

Zachary Groff
Nov 6, 2021
I always looked up to my dad. From the day of my birth until his death seven years ago, I quite literally looked up to him. He was a big guy at 6’ 2”, and I never attained his stature. Yet there is a more profound reason that I continue to look up to my dad even after his death: he stood up to...

A Resolution for the Church

Zachary Groff
Jan 25, 2021
Of the making of commitments there seems to be no end. Having formed any number of New Year’s Resolutions, we find ourselves bombarded by new pressures from within and without—and after nearly a month, perhaps we have already decided to call it quits. But what if we take a moment to step back from...

The Radical Society

Zachary Groff
Jul 31, 2020
Radicalism is on the rise. As noted by Senior Academic Fellow Jonathan Pugh of Newcastle University, the phrase “radical politics” [1] in our day describes activism that targets and subverts the root (Latin: radix ) of reigning public distributions of power, wealth, and social standing. The radical...

The Chapel & Transluminate: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Zachary Groff
Mar 11, 2020
Note: This piece follows up on Friday’s reformation21 post, A Trans Memorial in an Evangelical Chapel . In the wake of last week’s news about the Transluminate short-play festival having been held (two years in a row) on premises owned and maintained by Memorial Presbyterian Church (PCA) in St...

Trans Memorial in an Evangelical Chapel?

Zachary Groff
Mar 6, 2020
In the middle of an otherwise peaceful Thursday afternoon, my phone and Facebook newsfeed lit up simultaneously with something that I thought was impossible at this point: yet more surprising PCA-related news out of St. Louis, Missouri. Memorial Presbyterian Church (PCA), the host church of the...

The Rhetoric of An Affirming Non-Ministry

Zachary Groff
Mar 4, 2019
Last week in St. Louis, representatives of the United Methodist Church from around the world gathered together for a special session of their General Conference. The delegates to the meeting collectively represented over 12 million church members, worldwide. Called for the purpose of considering a...

What a Privilege!

Zachary Groff
Oct 8, 2018
During family worship one night, my son was growing increasingly distracted—to which children his age are inclined. I gently reached over and grasped my son’s shoulders, and said, “Remember son, we are people who are privileged by God to be nurtured to worship Him.” If you...

Confessional Millennials?

Zachary Groff
Aug 23, 2017
Confessionalists value unity; Millennials celebrate individualism. Confessionalists cherish tradition; Millennials love innovation. Confessionalists are guardians; Millennials are liberators. The combination of these words seems like an oxymoron. But does it make sense to completely separate the...

The Gift of Sleep: Capturing the Biblical Vision of Rest

Zachary Groff
Sep 8, 2016
Caffeine. Late-night TV. Smartphones. Sugar. After-hours work e-mails. What do they have in common? With stunning success, we use these things – and more besides – to regularly rob ourselves of a good night’s sleep. But the problem is deeper than entertainment, technology, or any...